The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-06-10
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse to the Military in the
National Encampment.
The Soldier the BuIwark of the Nation
Warriors of Ancient and Modern Times
Present Reviews Compared With
the Great and Final One.

the Great and Final One
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage visited the Ma
tional militia encampment at Washington
and preached to an immense con gregation
on the camp ground. Soldiers from thirty
one States and Territories were present,
together with nineteen Governors and
their staffs. His texts were:
Fifty thousand which could keep rank.-L
Chronicles, xii, 49,
Every one could sling stones at a hair-breadth
and not miss.-Judges, Xxx, IS.
He said: Companies Of infantry, caval-
~, artillery and zouaves, please notice
the first Scripture passage applauds the
soldiers of Zebulun because they were
disciplined troops. They may have been
insufficient at the start and laughed at by
old soldiers because they seemed so clum-
sy in the line; but it was drill, drill, drill,
until they could keep step as one man.
Fifty thousand which could keep rank.
The second Scripture passage applauds
regiment of singers in the tribe of
Benjamin because they are dexterous
marksmen. When they first enlisted they
may have been an awkward squad, and
all their fingers were thumbs, but they
praeticed until when they aimed at a
mark they always hit it.
Every one could sling stones at a air-breadth
and not miss.
Both texts combining to show us that
five must fight we should do it well.
There Is something absorbing in the
military science of the Bible. In olden
times all the men between twenty and fifty
years of age were enrolled in the army,
and then levy was made for a special
service. There were only three or four
classes exempt-those who had built a
house and had not occupied it; those who
had planted garden and had not reaped
the fruit of 1t; those who were engaged
to be married and vet had not led the
bride to the altar; those who were yet in
the first wear of welded life; those who
were so nervous that they could not look
upon an enemy but they fed, and could
not look upon blood but they tainted.
The army was in three divisions-the
center and right and left wings. The
weapons of defense were helmet, shield,
breastplate, buckler. The weapons of
offense were sword, spear, javelin, arrow,
catapult-which was merely bow swung
by machinery, shooting arrows at vast
distances, great arrows, one arrow as
large as several men could
lift, and ballista, which was a
sling swung by machinery, hurling great
rocks and large pieces of lead to vast dis
tances. The shields were made of woven
wiIlow-work, with three thicknesses of
hide and loop inside through which the
arm of the warrior might be thrust; and
when these soldiers were marching to at
tack an enemy on the level all these
shields touched each other, making a wall
moving but impenetrable; and then when
they attacked a fortress and tried to capt
ure battlement, this shield was lifted
over the head so as to resist the falling
missiles. The breastplate was made Of
two pieces of leather, brass covered one
piece falling over~the back. At the side
of the warrior the two pieces fas tened
with buttons or clasps. The bows were
so stout and stiff and strong that warriors
often challenged each other to bend one.
The strings of the bow were made from
sinews of oxen. A case like an inverted
pyramid was fastened to the back, that
case containing the arrows, so that when
the warrior wanted to use an arrow he
would put his arm over his
shoulder and pull forth the
arrow for the fight. The angle
of the foot had an iron boot. When a wall
vast to be assaulted a battering ram was
brought up A batteringram was great
beam swung on chains in equilibrium.
The battering-ram would be brought close
up to the wall, and then a great mum ber
of men would take hold of this beam,
push it back as far as they could and then
let go, and the beam became a great
swinging pendulum of destruction.
Twenty or forty men would stand in a
mOVaDlG tower on bu6 DdCk OIL AL 6lG-
phant, the elephant made drunk with
wine, and then headed toward the enemy,
and what with the heavy feet and the
swinging proboscis, and the poisoned ar
rows shot from the movable tower, the
destruction was appalling. War chariots
were in vogue, and they were on two
wheels, 50 they could easily turn.
sword was fastened to the pole between
the horses, so when they went ahead the
V1
around it would NOW down. The armies
carried flags beautifully embroidered. The
tribe of Judah carried a flag embroidered
with a lion; tribe of Reuben, en-
broidered with man; tribe of Dan, en-
broidered with cherubim The noise Of
the host as they moved on was over
whelming. What with the clatter of
shields and the rumbling of wheels and
the shouts Of the captains, and the vOci-
feratiOns of the entire host, the prophet
says it was like the roaring Of the sea.
Because the arts of war have been ad-
vancing all these long years you are not
to conclude that these armies of olden
times were an uncomfortable mob. /
could quote you four or five passages Of
Scripture showing you that they were
thoroughly drilled; they marched step to
step, shoulder to shoulder, or as my texts
expresses it, they were
Fifty thousand which could keep rank" and
''Every one could sling stones at hair-breadth
and not miss"
Nothing could be more important than
this great National encampment. I'm
drilled troops can never stand before
those which are drilled. At a time when
other nations are giving such care to mil
itary tactics, it behooves this Nation
to lack nothing in skin. We shall
never have another war between
North and South The old deeayed bone Of
relasfraa lou Frau
cast out, although here and there a de-
praved politician takes il up to see il he
can gnaw some thing of of it. We are float
ing of further and further from the pos
sibility Of sectional trife, but about for
eign invasion l am not 50 sure. There is
absolutely no room on this continent for
any other nation. 1 have been across the
country again and again, and 1 know that
we have not half-inch Of ground for the
gouty foot Of foreign despOtism to stand
on. do not know but that a half-dozen
nations, envious Of our prosperity, may
want to give us a wrestle. During our
civil war there were two or three nations
that could hardly keep their hands off Of
US. 1t is very easy to pick national quar-
reIs, and IL our Nation escapes it much
longer it will be the exception. If a for
eign foe should come. we want men like
those Of 1912, and like those who fought
on both sides in 1862. We want them all
up and down the coast, Pulaski and Fort
Sumter in the same chorus Of thunder as
Fort Lafayette and Fort Hamilton, men
who will not only know how to fight, but
how to die. When such time comes, If
1t ever does come, the generations on the
stage of action will say:
My country will care for my family as
they did in the soldiers asyIums for the
orphans in the civil war, and my country
viii honor my dust as il honors those who
preceded me in patriotic sacrifice, and
once q year, at any rate, on Decoration
Day, I shall be resrrrseted into the re-
membrance Of those for whom died.
Here 20, for God and my country"
II foreign foe should ever come, all sec